Minority MPs want State of the Nation Address to focus on security

head of President Nana Akufo-Addo’s third State of the Nation address on February 21, 2019, some minority Members of Parliament have said the address must focus on the security in the country.

Their request comes in the wake of what the Minority has called a “state of insecurity” following the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election violence, which observers have criticised for having excessive security.

National Security Personnel were at the centre of a shooting incident near a La Bawaleshie polling centre that temporarily disrupted the polls. There are also fears there has been a spike in kidnapping cases, with the abduction of three girls in Takoradi in the Western Region capturing national attention.

“If there is no security, nothing can function. The very survival of humanity is security,” the MP for Banda, Ibrahim Ahmed said in a Citi News interview.

Ibrahim Ahmed also said he wanted the president to hold Bryan Acheampong accountable for the actions of security personnel deployed to Aaywaso West Wuogon who are seen brutalising some unarmed men.

The MP for Sagnarigu, Alhaji A.B.A. Fuseini remarked that: “Every Ghanaians’ fundamental concern is that this country is very insecure. In fact, when you leave and go to work, it is by the grace of God that you get back to your house. We have never experienced this kind of insecurity in this country at any point in time.”

The Ningo-Prampram MP, Sam George, who was assaulted by some security personnel added that, “the President has a lot of questions to answer when it comes to the fight against corruption, when it comes to insecurity, when it comes to what appears to be apparent breaches of the constitution by himself and his appointees.”

But he added that he did not expect the president “to touch on those issues.”

“The President is most likely going to come here and praise himself,” Sam George retorted.